The Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (known as Legal Adviser to the Foreign Office until 1968) is the chief legal adviser and the head of the Legal Directorate of the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...
. The current Legal Adviser is Sally Langrish.
History
Until 1872, it was the practice of the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
to seek legal advice from the
Law Officers of the Crown and from the
Queen's Advocate General. That year,
Sir Travers Twiss, the Queen's Advocate resigned, and the office lapsed. In 1876,
Sir Julian Pauncefote was appointed an assistant under secretary to provide in-house legal advice to the Foreign Office, although he never held the title of Legal Adviser.
In 1886, Edward Davidson was appointed Legal Assistant to the Foreign Office. When Pauncefote was appointed British Minister to the United States in 1892, the Foreign Office List began to list Davidson as Legal Adviser ''
eo nomine''. In 1896 he was listed immediately below under secretaries and ahead of the chief clerk.
Duties
The Legal Adviser heads the Legal Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which is responsible for providing legal advice to FCO ministers and officials. In 2013, the Directorate had a staff of 70, of whom around 50 are lawyers based in London. Some legal advisers are also posted abroad.
The Legal Adviser ranks as a director general, reporting directly to the
Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Reporting to him are four deputy legal advisers, legal counsellors, and assistant legal advisers.
Holders
*
Sir William Edward Davidson (1886–1918; ''eo nomine'' from 1892)
*
Sir Cecil James Barrington Hurst (1918–1929)
*
Sir Herbert William Malkin (1929–1945)
*
Sir William Eric Beckett (1945–1953)
*
Sir Gerald Gray Fitzmaurice (1953–1960)
*
Sir Francis Aimé Vallat (1960–1968)
*
Sir William Vincent John Evans (1968–1975)
*
Sir James Carnegie McPetrie (1968–1971)
*
Sir Ian McTaggart Sinclair (1976–1984)
*
Sir John Redvers Freeland (1984–1987)
*
Sir Arthur Desmond Watts (1987–1991)
*
Sir Franklin Delow Berman (1991–1999)
*
Sir Michael Charles Wood (1999–2006)
*
Sir Daniel Lincoln Bethlehem (2006–2011)
*
Sir Iain Macleod (2011–2022)
*
Sally Langrish
Sally may refer to:
People
* Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name
Military
* Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port
*Sally, the Allied reporting n ...
(2022–present)
[{{cite web, url=https://www.gov.uk/government/people/sally-langrish, title=Sally Langrish, publisher=]GOV.UK
gov.uk (styled on the site as GOV.UK) is a United Kingdom public sector information website, created by the Government Digital Service to provide a single point of access to HM Government services. The site launched as a beta on 31 January 2012, ...
, accessdate=4 June 2022
References
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Civil service positions in the United Kingdom